"Letting Texts Talk"

Sunday, March 1, 2015

"Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons; and they built a house for David. And David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel" (2 Samuel 5:11-12). Loving our neighbor as ourselves isn't easy, but with God it is possible. We see love in the life of David, who is at the center of the story in 2 Samuel 5. It is here that we read of the third and final anointing of David, which unites all Israel's people under him. Life in Israel with David as king is what life should be like. That is, David was different than Saul. He was a king who loved God so much that he believed Him and was good to His people. But David's God was better than David, He loved His people so much that He gave them a king for their sake.Speaking of people, a neighboring king named Hiram became friends with David. Although Hiram wasn't Jewish, he recognized the distinctiveness of David and David's God, so he wanted to do good to Israel. Perhaps he saw the power of God as Israel grew and though it best to became an ally to David rather than an enemy. Whatever the case may have been, he sent his timber and his men to build David a new house. After all, David was Israel's new king. And this would be the perfect time for pride to well up in King David since the king of Tyre recognized his authority. Was it David's popularity that made Hiram like him? Was it his military prowess? Or did David's promise keeping and loving God have something to do with it?In His providence, God used Hiram to help establish David. Many years before all the elders of Israel anointed David he was anointed by Samuel to be the king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13). God selected David; the most unlikely king there ever was. But through him God would someday establish His kingdom and, because God's promises never expire, David became king. And he knew it was Yahweh that did it. "David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel (2 Samuel 5:12a). It wasn't David's ruddy appearance or his military prowess, it was God who made him king over Israel, and his new custom built gift palace from Hiram the king was proof positive that the nations viewed David as such. But why did God do this? Couldn't he have just shown Israel that He loved them another way? Perhaps, but with David we learn that God uses men to be mediators between He and his people. David was there to extend God's love to the people.Now, we all know that King David was far from sinless, but 5:12b teaches us something special. "and that He exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel." Yes! David understood that God made him the king not for his own self-interests but for the interests of others. We too must understand that we exist not just for hobbies, or to have fun, but to benefit other people.We often use our positions for ourselves rather than for others. The employee who hogs as much free food and other nice things from the workplace isn't looking out for the sake of others. I once had a boss who screamed and cussed a lot, which never helped his employees, although it made him feel powerful. True power comes from God and living for the sake of others, which starts with your family.David's example is not only instructive for us, but it also points us forward to another, better king that would be established for the sake of His people. The king came but his own people didn't recognize him so they killed him. But his death and resurrection were for the sake of His people. This king is Jesus Christ. Dearest reader, please remember that God loved his people so much and kept his promise so well that he sent Him, who is another David, only this One is perfect in every way and will not die.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

“And
this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge
and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in
order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled
with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory
and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

Think
of someone you love deeply. How much could you say about this person?
Seriously, how much? I expect that you could write pages or talk for hours about
your knowledge of and experiences with the object of your love. The framed
photos on the walls of your home tell of your loves. When we look at photos we
remember times, places, and special moments with the ones we love. Love
precedes knowledge. If we love something, we want to learn more about it. If we
love someone we want to know more about him or her. Love is the pathway to
knowledge.

For
example, a mother can recall the details of the birth of each of her children.
She can recall surgeries and sicknesses that each child had. She can tell you
their achievements and failures, their likes and dislikes, their hopes and
fears, and so on. She remembers all of that knowledge because love is the
pathway to knowledge. When you love deeply you seek to know everything you can
about the object of your love, as a mother knows the details of her children.

When
Paul wrote his letter to the church at Philippi he begins by expressing how
much he loves them and reminding them that he prays for them (1:3-4). He also
reminds them of who they are in Jesus, and tells them that he loves and misses
them (1:5-8). He says this in Christian love as a mother would write to her own
child. Then in verse 9 Paul bursts forth into prayer for his people.

In
his prayer he asks God to cause their love to grow greater every day (v 9). He
wasn’t speaking of love as a mere sentimental feeling but as a growth in
knowledge and in keen perception so that the Christian would be able to tell
between right and wrong. Love precedes knowledge. Just as when we love someone,
we want to know more about him or her, the same is true of our love for Jesus.
When we truly love Jesus, we will want to learn more about Him (William Barclay
18).

Now,
there is a result of this chain of love, knowledge, and discernment. It leads
to righteousness. If we really love Jesus we will live to please Him; the more
we love Him, the more we will stay away from what is evil but cling to what is
right. Real love is not blind, it actually gives us spectacles to see and know
the things that are excellent. And by choosing the excellent things, or that
which pleases Christ, we become blameless and prepared for the day when He will
return (vv 10-11).

Speaking
of His return, are you prepared? In a wondrous way, love, knowledge, and
righteousness work together to prepare you. Your love for Christ will grow as
you know Him more. But if you don’t love Him you’ll have no desire to learn
more about God, and no desire to please Him with your choices, this grieves
Him. I liken it to my marriage; I want to know more about my wife because I
love her. Now, I know much of what she likes and what she does not like. And
the more I get to know her the more I love her and make choices according to
what she likes. The result is that I bring flowers to her rather than wild
mushrooms. I take her to concerts with the Bend Symphony rather than hip-hop
concerts. And I do my best to not ignore her when she is talking to me because
I know her, love her, and do not want to grieve her. Life with God is much the
same. As you learn more about Him, and as you choose to please Him, you start
abounding in love, and love leads to obedience. Jesus said it this way, “If you
love Me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Friday, January 2, 2015

The greatest gift that was ever given to me is from God. It is given by His grace and through faith. It is salvation. And those of us who have this great gift are His workmanship; we are created in Jesus so that our lives would reflect God’s goodness and glory, rather than our sinfulness (Eph 2:8-10). Another great gift that was given to me came from my parents in 1982. It was purchased at the Bible Bookstore in Saint Helens. It is a brown NIV Bible with tiny print, and it was my first Bible. It went with me each Sunday as we met with the saints of Yankton Baptist Church. I read that little NIV a lot by myself. I remember reading Jesus’s sermon on the mount while sitting on my bed and struggling to fully comprehend it.

Now, 32 years have gone by and not much has changed in my ability to read and quickly understand the Bible. Bible interpretation can be difficult; I suggest that one major reason why we don’t read the Bible routinely is because we often read it just for comprehension, like it were a textbook. We are, however, to read it in order to be fed by God.

Bible reading, as Pastor Willard Fenderson aptly said, was not to master the Bible but that we would be mastered by it. When we read the Scriptures God shepherds us. For example, in our reading we might discover a sin we need to repent of, a truth that we need to learn, or a promise from God. Here, in Bible reading, we are fed by God Himself. Yahweh said it this way:

“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on breadalone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:1-5).

Jesus quoted a verse from the above passage, and note its context: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:1-4).

Yahweh said it, and Jesus said it too: God feeds us with the Bible, which brings life. The analogy teaches us that just as we need to be fed food to survive, we need to be fed the Scriptures to survive. Likewise, what happens to one who does not eat food also happens to one who is not fed the Holy Scriptures. Did you eat today? Did God feed you with His Bible?

Therefore, based on this teaching from both Yahweh and Jesus, I suggest that you make Bible reading part of your daily routine just as you routinely eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Read your Bible to be fed. As good as devotional books can be, they cannot replace Holy Scripture, because devotionals are not God-breathed. Let the Bible be your primary food source. And if you do not have a Bible, please take a pew Bible. It is the church’s gift to you, and it is a great gift.

Over the years I’ve received a lot of gifts, some good, others not so good. But the one that sits up on my shelf to this day is the brown NIV from my parents. 1982 was a long time ago but my Bible has not begun to rot or perish; the pages may be falling out, but I still get it down and read it. Even though I cannot fully comprehend it, God still masters me by it, and I am fed. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Saturday, December 13, 2014

For the past eight years I've written a monthly devotional letter to the church where God has graciously placed me as pastor. I count it a privilege to write these, and by God's grace I've been able to write them most months. Please keep in mind that this post along with the majority of the others published on here were originally written to the saints at Prineville Community Church. And I'd like to thank my friend and elder for the title "It's All Going to Burn." It originated with him as he reminds me often that we need to keep our eyes on God in heaven, since most everything else is temporal. Further, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a comment. ChrisSecond Corinthians is one of the Apostle Paul’s most personal letters. In it he writes about the nature of Christian ministry, including the victory that God gives us in Christ (2:14-17) despite our suffering (4:8-18, 11:16-33). Those two things do not seem to go together, but Paul reasons that in Christ we truly win, even though we may look like we’re losing:

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor 4:16-18).

Decay harms everything but God, and though the world is trying to preserve everything, everything is still decaying. Your body is dying. However, Scripture tells us to not lose heart even though we are dying because Jesus rose from ultimate decay, and God promises that we too will live after our death (4:14). Christ’s resurrection gives us stamina or “heart” in life. But it is easy to forget truth that isn’t visible to us just yet. Just as it is easy to focus on our present difficulties, it is easy to forget to praise God for the greatest gift of all, eternal life in our Savior. I challenge you to praise Him for the things that are unseen, eternal, and unharmed by decay.

Decay makes it hard to remember the things we cannot see, thus our applause and praise is often a result of getting new and shiny possessions. Months ago I was invited to speak at a community event. Everything was going okay until I began to wrap up my message; it was then that I spoke extemporaneously for three sentences. Speaking sentences that are not planned can be dangerous for preachers. We are God’s servants, not servants of our own mouths (2 Tim 4:1-2). But for a moment at this event I was a servant of my mouth, and I’m very ashamed.

The words that came from my mouth weren’t inherently bad. I spoke of a visible thing that God gave to my family, not an eternal one. The room exploded into exuberant clapping and amens. I was shocked, blindsided, and left stammering for a minute. When my mind finally caught up with my mouth, I realized that even though God had given me this decaying thing, that He had not given that thing to all the applauders in the room. In fact, there were many believers in that room who go without it. They had prayed like me, but never received. I am deeply troubled at the amount of praise that shiny new visible stuff gets, especially when other Christians go without it. We tend to question our own faith when God gives a visible thing to a brother or sister but not to us. To be sure, I’ve doubted the genuineness of my faith in Christ because of the visible stuff that others get. At one point in my past I was angry. I thought, “Why is it that my brother can open a book to find a $100 gift but I can barely pay my rent?” Questions like this one along with foolish tests of God tend to make us wonder if we are honestly genuine Christians. Furthermore, I’m grievously troubled when I visit the bedside of a person who is near death to find them doubting their salvation since they are dying. They doubt because they were taught that if they had enough faith, God would give them health, and He hasn’t. Dear Christian, with all due respect, this teaching is terribly false and must be rejected.

Setting false teaching aside, we must be sensitive toward the minds of other believers when we talk of our visible things. Our default mode is to assume that there is something wrong with us because God hasn’t given us the decaying visible stuff that He gives to others. But in comparison to the eternal and unseen things, who really wants the visible stuff? As I ponder this line of thinking one question comes to mind:

• Would this sort of prosperity thinking work anywhere other than in 1st world countries like America? No! God didn’t prosper the early church with health and wealth. Except for John, all the Apostles were put to death. Paul suffered with his thorn in the flesh, although his faith was amazing (2 Cor. 12). Many Christians lost their homes and their jobs because of their strong and genuine faith in Christ; it was never the other way around (1 Peter 1-2).

I believe that we often praise Him for that which we see, and we often doubt Him when we don’t receive it. Sadly, the stuff which we can see that tends to make this life easier will burn up (1 Peter 3:10-12). On the other hand, may we never stop praising Him for the things that we can only see by faith, these are His priceless gifts that He gives to all who follow His Son, Jesus Christ.

Lastly, I type all of this out with a repentant heart. I’m your pastor, and I need to grow. It is easy to allow my eyes to come off of the Lord, even for just three sentences while I’m speaking. Sadly, the fruit of a pastor’s words can lead to bad thinking in the church’s life. I pray that God will cause the people that heard me that day to forget what I said about the visible shiny thing, but to remember when I spoke His words concerning that which can only be seen by faith. Furthermore, may God richly bless you with invisible blessings as you draw near to Him this Advent season. May God allow you to speak of these things among your friends and family as you’re gathered together. Let’s praise Him for the best stuff, that is, the invisible, eternal things, that have no decay.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

"Letting Texts Talk" is a fitting name for this blog because my aim in life is to proclaim the Word of God. To let texts talk is what God has called me to do (2 Tim 4:1-2). Thus, the majority of the posts on this blog are not my own thoughts, but attempts to expose every person to the Word of God. And my hope is that all who read these posts will learn to tremble at His Word.

The new blog title, "Letting Texts Talk" is a quotation from Engaging The Written Word of God, by J. I. Packer, where he writes:

The church must be Word-oriented: that is, God's people must always be attentive and obedient to Scripture. Scripture is God's Word of constant address to them, and woe betide them if they disregard it (see 2 Kgs. 22:8-20; 2 Chr. 36:15-16; Isa. 1:19-20; Jer. 1:23-26; Rev. 2:4-7, 15-17, etc.). God's people must learn to 'tremble at his word' (Ezra 9:4; Isa. 66:5), listening, learning, and laying to heart; believing what he tells them, behaving as he directs them, and battling for his truth in a world that denies it.

Preaching, as an activity of letting texts talk, alerts Christians to the fact that God is constantly addressing them and enforces the authority of Scripture over them. The church must live by God's Word as its necessary food and steer by that Word as its guiding star. Without preaching, however, it is not conceivable that this will be either seen or done (246).

I heartily agree with J. I. Packer, and pray that the Lord would grant that more of our preaching would be “an activity of letting texts talk.”

Saturday, November 1, 2014

"Having said this,
he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it
and began to eat" (Acts 27:35).

The nights are
cooler, the leaves are falling, and my dogs recently tasted pheasant feathers;
Fall has begun. Fall brings Thanksgiving, which is only two days before the
Civil War. Unfortunately, Beaver fans have to look back to 2007 to find a Civil
War win. But if that is what it takes to muster up gratitude to Oregon State,
I’ll take it.

Speaking of gratitude, I'd like to focus on giving thanks.
First, I perceive a problem. For example, we often hear well meaning individuals say “have faith!” This statement makes us ask “have faith in what?”
I’ve heard similar statements at Thanksgiving, for example, “Be thankful!” or
“I’m thankful for life.” Friends, this is a time when Christians ought to be
able to communicate clear gratitude to their God. God should receive thanks for
what He has done in us, so that everyone at our Thanksgiving table can hear
about our God.

Our God receives thanks
in Acts 27:35 when Paul thanked Him directly among many other men. Notice that
he does not thank the men who loaded the food onto the ship, nor the owners of
the food, but God alone. Our gratitude must be given to someone, so I suggest that you give it first
to God for all to hear. Let’s not leave the whole family in a fog as to whom you are thankful. Otherwise, they
may assume that you are thankful to the earth, or to the turkey who gave its
life so that they could eat. Let’s thank God directly to honor Him, and He will
hear it.

Our God receives
thanks in Acts 27:35 for what He has done. Paul, who had been shipwrecked, gave
thanks for the food God provided. This reminds us of Jesus; He often paused in prayer to thank the Father for food. It is good to thank God
before our Thanksgiving meal. But shouldn’t our gratitude extend beyond food? 1
Corinthians 1:4 says “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you
in Christ Jesus.” And as we read further from verses 5 to 9 we notice that this
church received much from God, so much that they had every gift (v. 7). God’s
grace saved them and gave them all they needed, and for that Paul thanked God
directly.

Lastly, our God
should receive thanks for all things. Ephesians 5:18-21 says, “And do not get
drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody with you heart to the Lord; always
giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one
another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-21). We who are in Christ must
be thankful to God always and for everything. We must be thankful for the pain
and the joy, the weakness and the strength because through it all we are made
more like Christ. Now, let’s thank God that we don’t have to look back to 2007
to muster up gratitude toward Him, for His grace is apparent each day.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

God’s sovereignty is striking, especially in regard to my prayers. Like getting hit by a right hook from George Foreman, God’s sovereignty can leave me in a daze. For some people God’s sovereignty renders prayer useless or at best puts someone into a cosmic stalemate with the Sovereign God. But I do not think that is true, because God’s sovereignty and prayer dovetail together nicely. We pray because God is sovereign.

King Nebuchadnezzar may seem like an unlikely place to begin a study of God’s sovereignty, but we can learn much from this king. Nebuchadnezzar was a king with great pride. He attempted to receive worship that belonged to God alone. God humbled Nebuchadnezzar by taking away his kingdom, his throne, and even his sanity for a period of time. Through this, the king learned an important lesson about God: “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Daniel 4:34-35).

When God confronted Nebuchadnezzar with His supreme sovereignty, the king gave up seeking his own glory and humbly submitted to God. Like Nebuchadnezzar, we also must learn that God’s rule is over the universe. God governs all creatures and events. This is not only in the book of Daniel, but is also found consistently throughout the Scriptures. In Genesis 1 we learn that God created the universe and all that is in it. He is the King of His Creation because He created it. And the almighty Creator King has somehow given us a way to speak directly to Him: prayer.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray Jesus replied,

Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed by Your name.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in

heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our

debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead

us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the

kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

(Matthew 6:9-13).

Jesus’ model prayer shows us that prayer and the sovereignty of God work in unison not in opposition. First, we recognize that our Father is in heaven, which is an elevated position of authority, and we should want His name to be honored in the world. Next, we ask that His kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth. These are petitions that don’t just imply that God is sovereign but ask Him to actually fulfill His kingly plan, as a sovereign should. Next, we petition God for our needs for the day, recognizing full dependence upon Him. And we not only have need of food, but we have need of forgiveness so we ask Him for that too. Lastly, we pray that He will protect us from evil since only He is able to do that. And then we remember that this world belongs to Him, who is all powerful and deserves all glory for eternity.

Therefore, if we follow Jesus’s instructions we humbly acknowledge in our prayer that:

God is our Father authority who is lifted up high into heaven.

God’s name must be respected and dignified in the world.

God is king of His kingdom.

God’s will is what we want to happen around us.

God is the one who provides for our daily needs.

God is the one who forgives us of our sins.

God is the one who protects us from temptation and evil.

The Lord’s Prayer overflows with sovereignty theology.

Prayer reminds us that there is One who is much higher than us who is in control, and we must bring our requests to Him. Prayer aligns us with the Sovereign by asking that His will be done. Prayer celebrates God’s sovereignty since it wants His glory to be spread abroad. Furthermore, our prayers depend on God’s sovereignty. Think about it this way: when someone is fed up with the bad service in a restaurant he may call directly for the manager. The customer who needs service goes straight to the top. Likewise, whenever we have a need, we go to the top because He is always available to listen. He is the one who has the freedom to do whatever He wishes because He is sovereign, and he wishes to hear and respond to our prayers.

Dear Christian, do not think for a moment that your prayers are useless. God cares for you, and He wants to hear you. Remember that He has sovereignly given you access to His throne, but not for you to just ask for whatever you want. Go to Him with godly requests, pray for honest needs, ask for His will to be accomplished in your sanctification, request His forgiveness for your sins, and ask for shelter from evil. He promises to hear and answer you.